'Specific plans' behind Centre's Collegium representation plea, alleges Mamata

Both the Opposition Congress as well as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the Centre over the recent letter by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju demanding the Central government's representation in the SC Collegium. While the grand old party accused the BJP-led Centre of stalling the appointment process until 'favourable' candidates could be chosen, Banerjee claimed states, too, should be represented in case Centre's plea materialises.

Kolkata: Taking the Centre to task over Supreme Court judges' appointments, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the BJP-led Centre had 'specific plans' behind the demand of its own representation in the body. Speaking out in favour of freedom of judiciary, Banerjee also noted that in case of a representation of the Centre in the Collegium materialises, the same could be done for respective states.

Speaking to the media ahead of her trip to Meghalaya, the CM said she was 'in favour of complete independence'. "What can I say as an immediate response without discussing this with my legal cell or lawyers? We are in favour of complete independence of the judiciary. The Centre is talking about their representation in the collegium for the appointment of judges and they have specific plans behind it," she asserted. "The importance of judiciary in democracy is immense" Mamata also observed, adding that "common people rely on them and interference in this is not acceptable."

The Congress, too, slammed the Centre over this issue on Tuesday, with party General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala saying the current delay in recruitment of judges was a ploy by the Centre to create a "designed schism". This in turn would persist until those who are 'favourable' to BJP-led Centre's "ideological masters" are appointed, he claimed.

"The idea is to create a designed schism and a consequent logjam bringing the judicial appointments and transfers to a standstill until people favourable to the thinking of the Modi government and its ideological masters find a place in the list of appointees," he said, claiming it was an 'open secret'. This comes after Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, on Monday, in a letter to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud sought the Centre's representation in the SC Collegium.

The letter follows several written applications prior to this. Rijiju himself had, back in 2022, criticised the top court for scrapping the NJAC Act. The government and the judiciary have been at loggerheads over the process of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, with Rijiju publicly making remarks on judicial appointments.